to the vault, he gave him a
ring and put it on his finger, saying, "This ring will deliver thee from
all stress, an thou be in calamities or vicissitudes, and will remove
from thee troubles; yea, it will be thy helper whereassoever thou art;"
and this was by the foreordinance of God the Most High, so it might be
the means of Alaeddin's deliverance. So, as he sat weeping and bewailing
his case and indeed his hope was cut off of life and despair was heavy
upon him, he fell, of the excess of his anguish, to wringing [261] his
hands, after the wont of the woeful; then, raising them [to heaven], he
made supplication to God, saying, "I testify that there is no God but
Thou alone, the Mighty, the Powerful, the Conquering, the Giver of Life
and Death, [262] Creator and Accomplisher [263] of necessities, Resolver
of difficulties and perplexities and Dispeller thereof, [264] Thou
my sufficiency, Thou the most excellent Guardian, and I testify that
Mohammed is Thy servant and Thine apostle. O my God, I conjure Thee, by
his [265] glory with Thee, deliver me from my extremity."

Whilst he was thus supplicating God and wringing his hands in the
excess of his affliction for that which had befallen him of calamity,
he chanced to rub upon the ring, and immediately, behold, a genie [266]
rose up before him and said to him, "Here am I; thy slave is before
thee. Seek whatsoever thou wilt, for that I am his slave who hath the
ring in hand, the ring of my lord." [267] Alaeddin looked and saw a
Marid, [268] as he were of the Jinn of our lord Solomon, standing before
him, and shuddered at his frightful aspect; but, when he heard the genie
say to him, "Seek whatsoever thou wilt, for that I am thy slave, since
the ring of my lord is on thy hand," he took heart and bethought him
of the Maugrabin's speech to him, whenas he gave him the ring. So he
rejoiced exceedingly and took courage and said to him, "O slave of the
lord of the ring, I will of thee that thou bring me out upon the face of
the earth." Hardly had he made an end of that his speech when, behold,
the earth opened and he found himself without, at the door of the
treasure, to wit, upon the surface of the earth.

Now, he had been three days under the earth, sitting in the treasure in
the dark; so, when the light of day smote on his face and the rays of
the sun, he might not unclose his eyes, but took to opening them little
by little and shutting them again till they became stronger and gr